U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,342 B2 describes a service terminal with a vertically movable and heatable connecting station.
EP 1 061 631 A 1 describes a connection device and a connection method for an electric vehicle. The connection device comprises a lifting mechanism for positioning a primary coil of the connecting device.
DE 4 236 286 A1 describes a method and an arrangement for automatic and contactless charging of a battery of a motor vehicle. The arrangement comprises a sensor-controlled lifting element which can be moved by means of which a primary coil for inductive power transmission.
DE 2 434 890 B1 describes a method for connecting a charger device arranged in a motor vehicle with an alternating or three-phase network transformer part. In the area of a dome surface can be provided heating coils to keep the dome surface free of ice.
DE 10 2011 076 186 A1 describes a charging device for inductive charging of a motor vehicle with a primary coil, which is designed to induce a voltage in a secondary coil of the motor vehicle in order to charge an electric energy store. The charging device includes in addition also a lifting mechanism which is designed to move the primary coil between a stored position and a charging position. The primary coil is in this case arranged in a ground induction plate which can be moved by means of the lifting mechanism. The charging device comprises a fan, which can supply heated air by means of a heating element to the upper side of the ground induction plate, which is to say to supply it to the side facing the motor vehicle to be charged, in order to heat the upper side of the ground induction plate.
These kinds of charging devices that are provided with a lifting mechanism can experience problems with the lifting mechanism when the temperatures are at or below the freezing point, and in particular in humid weather. In particular when the movable parts of the lifting mechanism freeze, such as for example joints, bellows or the like, operations free of interference are limited or even prevented. As a result, the efficiency during inductive charging of an energy storage device of a motor vehicle can be considerably restricted, or it may not be possible to carry out the charging operation as such under some circumstances, because when the lifting mechanism is frozen, so that the primary coil can no longer be moved into the charging position in which the gap between the primary coil and the second coil should be as small as possible.